Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to control performed when an error occurs during execution of a print job.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a printing apparatus that controls execution of a print job. Examples of the print job include a PDL (Page Description Language) job which is input from a client computer to the printing apparatus e.g. via a network. Further, in the printing apparatus, an error sometimes occurs during execution of a print job. For example, if an error having occurred during execution of a print job is a paper out error, generally, execution of the print job is interrupted, and is not restarted unless sheets are replenished by the user. To cope with this, there has been proposed a technique that, in a case where a paper out error occurs, preferentially executes a subsequent job while interrupting the preceding job (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H11-134122). This makes it possible to prevent the whole processing efficiency from lowering due to prolonged interruption of the operation of the printing apparatus.
However, when an error occurs, if a subsequent job is preferentially executed, another problem is caused by the preceding print job which has been interrupted and left for a long time period. For example, assuming that A-4 size sheets run out during execution of a print job for printing images on A-4 size sheets, if a long time period elapses without A-4 size sheets being replenished, printed matter already printed by the interrupted print job can be left for the long time period. Therefore, in a case where classified information is included in contents to be printed, it is undesirable from the viewpoint of security that the print job is left for a long time period.
To solve this problem, in a case where an error occurs during execution of a print job, there can be envisaged a method of automatically cancelling execution of the print job. Further, it is also envisaged to cancel not only the print job having caused the error, but also another print job in queue at the time to thereby further reduce the security risk. This is because it is difficult for the owner of the other print job in queue to predict when the error is eliminated, or when the print job having caused the error is canceled, and if the other print job is printed at an unintended timing, a printed matter is liable to be read by other persons.
However, the print job can be a print job which includes no classified information, and has no problem even if the printed matter is read by a third party. Therefore, assuming that all print jobs are automatically canceled according to occurrence of an error, such a print job including no classified information is also canceled, and have to be transmitted again from a client computer, which requires time and effort of the user. In short, there has been a problem that when an error occurs, it is difficult to prevent information leakage and also maintain the user-friendliness at the same time.